Halloween Treats And Trick Or Treating

It's my daughter's first Halloween on the gluten-free diet. When checking her trick or treat bag, are there certain candies or chocolate bars that are gluten-free? Any that are gluten-free and dairy free? Finally, any suggestions for gluten-free and dairy free treats that I can make for her? ( caramel popcorn balls?)
thanks for any tips!
Ana

I recently got this list from the Yahoo Group "Silly Yaks." I could also send it in word document to you if you wanted.

Gluten Free Candy ListOctober 2005

Disclaimer: This list is for reference only and the user should contact manufacturers directly. It is a guideline and the user accepts full responsibility for use of it. At the time of it’s posting, it is believed to be accurate with current gluten-free information. As a gluten-free consumer, you are responsible for making your own food selections. I am not a medical expert, I’m a mom of a Celiac pre-schooler who is always on a quest for gluten-free knowledge.

Notes: Please beware of candy that is not in it’s “normal shape.” Often times, that means the ingredients are different, and could very well contain gluten. Bags of mixed treats that do have gluten containing treats that touch each other should be discarded due to cross-contamination. If there is a treat that may not be listed on here, do not be alarmed… just check with the manufacturer. I couldn’t get them all on here and I’m sure there are some I have forgotten.

Thanks: I would like to thank all of the people who have shared information to make this list possible… including several ROCK leaders (Sue of NJ ROCK, Carrie of Reno ROCK, and Melissa of TampaBay ROCK) who consistently share their information with me and our ROCK Northern Virginia chapter. I’d also like to thank Lindsay Amadeo of Iowa (who maintains a wonderful gluten-free commercial product listing which includes many tricks and treats), SillyYaks Yahoo!groups members including Judy Kramer, and members of the St. John’s Celiac List Serv. Thanks to EVERYONE who responded in my quest for updating my list from last year.

CUSTOMIZED M&M’s• You can order customized M&M candies with your name or short phrase by going to this website: http://shop.mms.com/...nting/step1.asp 1-888-MY-MMS-88 (5am-10pm PST)CUSTOMIZED HERSHEY BARSYou can order customized plain Hershey Chocolate bars by going to this website: http://www.hersheygifts.com Call 1-800-454-7737 (Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. EST & Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. EST) • To Order By Fax: Call 1-717-534-5995; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please complete your online order, but instead of submitting, print out a hard copy of your order and fax it to HERSHEY'S at 1-717-534-5995. To avoid duplicate charges, fax your order only once. If transmission problems occur, please mark the second fax as a duplicate. Receipt of fax orders will be confirmed via fax within two business days.• To Order By Mail: . Print out a hard copy of your order and mail it to HERSHEY'S Gifts, PO Box 801, Hershey, PA 17033-0801. Please do not send currency. Sorry, no C.O.Ds.

DEFINITE NO-NO’s:• NOT GLUTEN FREE KitKat• NOT GLUTEN FREE 1,000 Grand Bar by Nestle• NOT GLUTEN FREE 3 Muskateers Chewlicious Chocolate Flavored Chews• NOT GLUTEN FREE Altoids Regular Chewing Gum in tin (clearly lists wheat maltodextrin on label as of March 2005) • NOT GLUTEN FREE Brach’s Fruit Rippers (clearly lists wheat as ingredient)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Brach’s Candy – ALL! (Thank you for your interest in Brach's and for contacting us about the gluten free status of our Brach*s candy products. For your information, we do not consider any of our products gluten free at the present time. Please be advised that we do plan to undertake a project to determine the gluten status of each and every one of our products. ~Brach's Consumer Relations)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Ghiradelli: white choc chips and choc masterpiece collection• NOT GLUTEN FREE Goldfish (All Varieties)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Haribo licorice, fruity pasta, sour spagetti, strawberry wheels (January 2004)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Hershey Miniatures in Bulk Bags (clearly marked as containing malt as of March 2005)

• NOT GLUTEN FREE Jelly Belly Buttered Toast Flavor, or any bag that may contain Buttered Toast inside• NOT GLUTEN FREE M&M Crispies (blue bag)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Magic Milk by Nestle• NOT GLUTEN FREE Most Commercially Made Rice Krispy Treats (usually contains malt)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Most HomeMade Rice Krispy Style Treats• NOT GLUTEN FREE Most licorices unless purchased from a health food store and is clearly marked gluten-free• NOT GLUTEN FREE Nestle Crunch• NOT GLUTEN FREE Nestle Treasures Crunch• NOT GLUTEN FREE Pretzel Flipz• NOT GLUTEN FREE Rice Krispy Treats (contains malt)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Snickers Crispy/Cruncher• NOT GLUTEN FREE Snickers Poppables• NOT GLUTEN FREE Snyder’s of Hanover MiniPretzel Packs• NOT GLUTEN FREE Twizzlers Licorice (contains: Corn syrup, flour, sugar, cornstarch, shortening, molasses, and flavorings are mixed together to make the candy)• NOT GLUTEN FREE Whoppers• NOT GLUTEN FREE Willy Wonka Oompas• NOT GLUTEN FREE Zachary Brand Candy Corn (In regards to the e-mail that we recently received regarding the use of the listed ingredients used in the manufacturing of Candy Corn I must explain that these types of candies are technically gluten free. However, we do in our facility have other items that do have ingredients that contain gluten ingredients and unfortunately we do not have the area in our manufacturing facility to segregate these items from one another. Therefore there is an opportunity for there to be cross contact with storage containers and manufacturing equipment that could potentially lead to these candy corn items having trace ingredients of gluten. So unfortunately I cannot guarantee one hundred percent that even though these candies do not contain any ingredients that contain gluten that this product had not come in contact with items and equipment that have. Obviously we are very sympathetic as food manufacturers with issues such as allergens and other intolerances. It is our desire to have as many people as possible to enjoy our candies and be able to eat them without fear of any health consequences. However as a small manufacturing facility we cannot go to the lengths and measures that larger companies can in regards to segregation of ingredients, washing of equipment between shifts or having a separate facility to manufacture only certain products containing problem ingredients and thereby eliminating cross contamination issues. I wish I had a more positive answer for your question but unfortunately in cases like this I would rather be sure than to indicate that there is nothing in the candies and have something happen that could jeopardize someone’s precious health. • NOT GLUTEN FREE/NOT EDIBLE: Play Dough or PlayDough Mini Packs

OPTIONS FOR DEALING WITH CANDYTHAT DOES CONTAIN GLUTEN:• Donate it to your local food bank• Gather it together & leave it on the kitchen table with a note to “The Pumpkin Fairy.” The Pumpkin Fairy is notorious for swooping down your chimney and taking the unhealthy candy and leaving one nice “treat” that is generally a non-edible toy.• Have gluten-free goodies on hand to “trade” your child for the unsafe stuff• Save it to use for making a Gingerbread house for the holidays (just for viewing, of course!)• Some dentists will accept your child’s candy and will “trade” it for some healthy options• Sort it, “buy it back” from your child, allow him/her to use that money to buy more gluten-free goodies• Sort it, separate it, toss it• Sort it, separate it, trade it with another child who can have that candy & trade for the gluten-free goodies

I have a new plan on how to deal with the candy this year, which may be totally not practical at all.

I have memorized a wide variety of gluten-free candy and plan to only let gluten-free candy get into her bag. That way maybe I can avoid having to "take her candy away" this year. I will still have to double check it, but last year I didn't check it on the way in and she ended up losing like 3/4 of her candy

What I am doing this year (being my first year on gluten-free diet with me and my son.... the only candy that will be in our house will be gluten-free (for handing out, and the enevitable leftovers).... and when the kids come home, I will do a buy back program.... where depending on how much NON gluten-free Stuff they end up I will determine a price per piece and then Alan and Catey (even tho she is not gluten-free, I am doing this with her as well because otherwise alan would whine about catey not having to do it...) will be able to go to the store with me and pick out candy that they want that is gluten-free and then all of the Non gluten-free candy will go with Hubby to his office to get given away....

we will see how this works this year and if it works then we will do it next year too...

6 year old son tested:8/29/05 Low TtG, High IgG (124) , High IgA (48)... now on a gluten-free diet per his dr. and starting to eat like a pig! (WOOHOO!!!!! he never used to eat before!)
Testing 3 year old daughter: (waiting to see if Dr. wants to test her..depends on her height/weight in January)

I have a new plan on how to deal with the candy this year, which may be totally not practical at all.

I have memorized a wide variety of gluten-free candy and plan to only let gluten-free candy get into her bag. That way maybe I can avoid having to "take her candy away" this year. I will still have to double check it, but last year I didn't check it on the way in and she ended up losing like 3/4 of her candy

YIKES! I get a few gluten-free bags of candy to give out and remove a dozen or so of those gluten-free candies to use for trading with my celiac kid. His brother and sister trade with him too, and it all seems to work out fine. I monitor so that there's no taking advantage going on. A bite sized snickers for a bite sized milky way is fair... you know? I think losing your candy due to gluten would be a tragedy! Also, I already ordered break bars for the kit kat trades. They even have new orange flavored PRICEY but they come in a pack of five double sticks packages.... did I mention PRICEY.. but once a year for kit kat trading at Halloween is worth the price.

I gave out glow sticks for Halloween last year. I found them at the 99cent store. packages of 12 for 99cents!! I cracked them all a smidge in advance and had about 100 in a bowl with me outside on my patio for the trick or treaters. They loved it. They picked a favorite color and ran off waving it down the street.